MIC-wait didn't I already do this?!-KEY-I am having the strangest feeling of deja vu-MOUSE

All I am going to say about how this trip came about is that when you get a smoking good deal to go to Disneyworld you don't pass it up, even if you had just been to Disneyland in December.

We spent our first day at Magic Kingdom, riding most of the same rides that are at Disneyland. Some are a little bit different, but it is pretty much the same concept. We each had our own favorites, but a few of the highlights were Space Mountain, the Buzz Lightyear ride, the People Mover, and Pirates of the Caribbean. The worst ride is Stitches Great Escape, unless you enjoy spit in your face, uncomfortable shoulder harnesses, and having a stinky burp blown in your face stay away from this terrible ride. After a really long day we ate dinner inside Cinderella's castle and got to meet all the princesses. The girls loved it.

The next day we went to Hollywood Studios, it has some rides but it also has many shows. We went to a smaller version of the Broadway Beauty and the Beast that Marti loved. We watched the Pixar parade and got to see some of the characters that are not as common, like The Incredibles, Ratatouille, and the Up cast.

With all the fun stuff we did that day we also managed to scar our poor kids for life. Neither Kory or I had ever been on The Tower of Terror so we didn't really know what to expect. I told the girls it was like the Ladybug Drop at Lagoon that they have been on a million times. I was totally wrong, it is not like that at all. They did pretty well until we shot up to the top of the building and doors opened. Marti just hid her face and held on tight, Emersyn completely lost her marbles. I felt so terrible. She was screaming and crying and making the most heartbreaking sounds you have ever heard. By the time the ride was over I was sure that the other people on the ride thought we were the worst parents in the world. Needless to say they will never be going on that ride again.

After the trauma, we called it a day early and headed back to our hotel for a swim. We stayed at a Disney hotel so there were always fun activities to do. They had games going all the time by the pool, in the food court they had board games and a Wii you could play while you ate and at night they played Disney movies outside on a big screen. It can definitely get expensive to visit Disney parks but I really am amazed at the level of service they provide, their employees really try to give the kids a wonderful experience.

Our 3rd stop was Epcot, by far Kory's favorite. We were there during their Flower and Garden Festival and it was just beautiful. We rode Soarin' and talked to Crush the turtle, but most of our day was spent walking through the different countries. We ate a delicious lunch in Germany, Emy discovered a new favorite dessert, Bavarian Cheesecake. We got sprinkled on a little in the afternoon but the storm clouds didn't stick around long.

Just before we left Epcot I came real close to having my own Emersyn style freak out on the Mission Space ride. They put you in what is basically a metal tube, put a harness over your head and then the control panel comes about 6 inches from your face and you are completely closed in. I was trying to stay at least somewhat calm so I didn't freak out the girls, but I'm don't think I did very well. I learned to believe the sign that tells you not to ride if you have a problem with claustrophobia, I won't be doing that ever again.

The next day we went to Animal Kingdom, the girls got their faces painted like Tigers, we rode the Safari, the girls cried when we rode Dinosaur, and then at about 3:30 the clouds opened and we got whacked by a huge rain storm. Luckily we had our rain ponchos but even with them we still got completely soaked. We grabbed the bus back to our hotel and then when the rain slowed we hopped on another bus to Downtown Disney. The girls had been saving their money for their own souvenirs so we spent about 2 hours in the Disney store while they decided what to get.

Included in our Disneyworld package was a dining plan for the entire week that included 2 meals and 1 snack per person per day. It doesn't sound like a lot of food, but it is. Every meal included enough food for at least 2 people. By the end of the week we were trying to figure out how to use all of our remaining credits and still fit in the airplane seats. We had a bunch of unused snack credits so we went to the candy store and got a bunch of stuff we could bring home with us. I think we ended up not using 2 meal credits. We would have used them all if the food court was open when we left for the airport at 3:30 in the morning, but apparently no sane person likes to be up that early.

Wow this post is long....I really am almost done. I just have to say thank you to my amazing family for a wonderful trip. I know I have said it before but it is true, there is nothing in the world I like to do more than share experiences with my family.

Adventure is out there!

The Aluminum Anniversary

Kory and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary in March, that's right we are now in double digits. We were able to take a long weekend away without the girls so we took a trip down to Las Vegas. We went to LOVE, the Beatles show, it was excellent. I fulfilled a bucket list item by going to the Hoover Dam, we took a dam tour that I found fascinating. I think Kory probably liked it too. We ate delicious food, stayed up late, walked until our feet hurt, tried to stay away from the weirdos on the strip (seriously, WOW), and had a really wonderful time.

We ate dinner one night in an English pub, they had famous quotes on their place mats and I found one that I think sums up Kory perfectly;

The only man who is really free is the one who can turn down an invitation to dinner without giving an excuse. --Jules Renard

I think that is one of the things I love most about Kory, he is self assured enough to not need to please anyone. I hope the girls inherit that trait from him...heck I hope some of it rubs off on me.

Happy Anniversary to us!

MIC-see you real soon-KEY-why?because I like you-MOUSE

I think this is the picture that best describes our trip to Disneyland, the stuff that memories are made of.  We had a really good time but there were a few things I would definitely change for our next trip. I will never drive down again for one, and two I won't go during peak season.

After our awful drive down we spent the first day at California Adventure and had breakfast with the princesses, it was a really fun way to get our trip started and it made it so we got most of the character visits out of the way. We still spent time finding Jasmine and Minnie in the park, Emersyn would never have forgiven us if we hadn't. After a long day in the park we weren't sure if we wanted to stay for the World of Color show, I am soooo glad we decided to. It was amazing.

Marti loved the Finding Nemo Submarine ride and Emy liked spinning round and round in the teacups. Their favorite ride was Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, they could have gone on it all day. Unfortunately they both really liked It's a Small World, the creepiest ride on the planet, but it worked out fine because Kory and I got to sit behind the girls and had a good ol' time making snarky comments about it while the girls enjoyed it. I had never been on Space Mountain before so I had no idea what to expect and now I totally love that ride, I also really liked the new Star Tours. Kory's favorite was Soarin' over California.

Kory made us go see the "cutting edge" 3D adventure that is Captain EO, let's just say unless you saw it as a kid and have some nostalgia for it don't waste your time. The 80s were just terrible, awful, blech.

The girls favorite non ride thing we did was a trip to the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique where their very own Fairy Godmother in training helped them turn into their favorite princesses. Complete with costume, fake hair, and makeup. To be honest it is totally overpriced, (what isn't in Disneyland?) and I wasn't sure it would be worth it but in the end I was glad we did it. The girls absolutely loved it and I was really impressed with how the workers made them feel so special. We didn't plan it out very well because right after they got all gussied up we went on Space Mountain. Luckily they put so much hairspray and so many bobby pins in their hair I am not sure a tornado could have gotten that wig loose.

 I love that the girls are at the age where we don't have to worry about strollers, diapers and nap schedules. Even Kory put on his happy face, even though he hates amusement parks and crowds of people. Marti and Emy were both so well behaved, even when we had to wait in long lines and after an entire day of walking. After one particularly long day we even ordered room service at our hotel, the girls thought that was the best thing we had ever done and couldn't understand why we didn't do that for every meal (oh crap, we're in trouble).

It was such a good time, there is nothing on the planet I like better than sharing experiences with my family. Adventure is out there!

Santa Babies

 The girls did a special photo session with "Santa" at Thanksgiving Point this year. The pictures turned out super cute and it was surprisingly cheap for these really creative photos. The guy in the Santa suit is actually Kory, which was pretty hilarious. Kory didn't think it was so amusing but he still did it because he is such a good sport....and because he can't say no to his girls.

The Mommy that stays

If you haven't seen Kung Fu Panda 2, spoiler alert, there is a part where Po's mama has to leave him because she is getting chased by bad guys so she hides him in a radish crate where he is found by the goose who takes care of him. When we watched the movie in the theater Emersyn was really affected by this scene, probably because she is such a sensitive soul. She cried, no not cried, sobbed during that part of the movie. She was so emotional she came to sit on my lap and watching her cry made me start crying and it was a whole crying thing. At the end of the scene she looked up at me, put her hands on my cheeks and said "don't leave me Mama". Well jeez, you would have to be totally dead inside not to cry if your kid says that to you. It was a very sweet moment.

Fast forward a few months later, Emersyn has a panda stuffed animal that she likes to play with, she calls him Po. We were outside one day and she was taking Po on a walk in a stroller. I was pulling weeds so I had my weed bucket next to me and told her that she could put Po in the bucket and I would find him and be his goose Daddy. She looked at me for a minute and said "Well, this is Po but I am not going to be that kind of Mommy. I am going to be like you, the Mommy that stays". At that point she turned and continued playing, unaware of how profound that statement was.

If I ever had one minute of doubt that quitting my job and staying home with my kids was the right choice at that moment it completely washed away. I feel so grateful for this experience and really the person to thank for that is Kory. He never complains when he gets home from work at 11 at night and then gets up at 5:30 in the morning to go back, or when Marti tells him that she hopes he gets fired so that he can stay home with them. He just does it and for that I am eternally grateful.

Up, up and away

Emersyn's ITP drama is hopefully coming to an end. Her level has been increasing for the past 2 weeks and as of today she is at 83,000. She has been able to return to normal activity for about a week and has been loving it. The first day she could go outside and play like a normal kid she was overjoyed. She ran, jumped and rode her bike to her heart's content.

On a less positive note, her Hematologist told me that there is a pretty high chance that she has the chronic type of ITP. We won't know for sure unless her platelet level drops again. Wishful thinking or not, for right now I am going to assume that it is not going to come back and if it does we will cross that bridge when we get to it.

Thanks again for all the support!

Earthquakes, hurricanes and flooding. Oh my!

We took a trip to see Jon and Michelle's family in Delaware at the end of August. We weren't sure we would be able to go until about a week before when we got cleared by Emersyn's doctor and I am so glad that we could make it! We have missed seeing them soooo much and it was so nice of them to allow us to mess up their beautiful new house for a week.

We flew into Philadelphia and before we drove to Jon and Michelle's we spent a day in historic Philadelphia, if you are a history buff like I am Philly should definitely be on your list of places to visit. It was amazing to see the Liberty Bell and take a tour of Liberty Hall. Kory and the girls were really good to humor me for a little while, I think I may even be converting Marti to my side, she was listening intently to the tour guide and would lean over and whisper what he had just said to me "in case I didn't hear it".

Emersyn and Marti had seen the tour buses going around all day and really wanted to ride one, Kory and I debated on whether or not we should (they are expensive) and in the end we decided to do it. It was a good decision, we learned a lot about the city that we wouldn't have, the girls were happy sitting on the upper deck and Emersyn took a nap (bonus). We were on the hunt for an authentic cheese steak sandwich and we found it at Reading Terminal Market, it was alright but I didn't think it was that big of a deal (how un-american of me).

After our day of sightseeing we drove out to Jon and Michelle's and met their newest addition, sweet little cabbage patch kid look alike Aubrey. She didn't warm up to Kory right away, I think she was put off by all his hair, but she came around a little bit by the time we left.

Our big adventure for the week was going to Hershey Park in Hershey, Pennsylvania. We could not have picked a more beautiful day to go, the weather was perfect. The older kids were happy going with Jon and Kory to ride the big manly roller coasters while Michelle and I were running the smaller kids from kiddie ride to kiddie ride.

Right before we left the park we stopped at Hershey World and took the free Chocolate Tour. You sit in cars and it takes you around to show how they make chocolate, complete with singing cows. I asked Emersyn what her favorite ride was at the park and of course she said the free chocolate tour. If I had known she would be that easy to please we just could have gone on that all day and saved a few bucks.

While we were at Hershey Park we got word that there was an earthquake that hit Washington D.C., the first one in a long time. There were people at the Park who said they felt it, but none of us felt anything. Crisis averted, or so we thought....

At this point we started hearing a lot about Hurricane Irene, it looked like it was heading up the eastern coast. It was scheduled to hit where we were on Sunday, the same day we were supposed to fly out. I called the airline and managed to get our flight changed to Saturday, but it still looked a little bit iffy.

  While we waited for the more info on the hurricane the next activity on the agenda was a trip to the beach. We drove to Rehoboth Beach and had a great time playing in the waves and digging in the sand. Dallin and Josh were trying to teach me how to swim in the ocean without getting taken out by the waves. I got smashed into the beach more than I would like to admit so I think I have a lot more practicing to do. We walked the boardwalk and ate taffy and salt and vinegar fries, yum. It reminded me why someday I would like to live by the ocean.

By Friday people were starting to freak out about the hurricane and the potential of flooding. Kory and I had scheduled a little 24 hour trip to New York City on Friday to see Wicked but it made us too nervous that we wouldn't be able to get back to the girls so we ended up not going. We were disappointed, but just couldn't take the risk.

Instead we all strapped on our bowling shoes to see who could post the worst bowling score. I am an awful, awful bowler but we still had a good time. Michelle managed to get a babysitter for Friday night and the adults went out to dinner, where I managed to put my big foot in my big mouth (sorry Michelle, I spend most of time with little kids, that's a valid excuse right?). Even with that we still had a lot of fun catching up, and laughing at the poor waiter who didn't know how to make a caesar salad.

Just as the rains were starting to come down on Saturday our flight was taking off without any problems. It was pretty turbulent as we were flying out of Philly which made me super nervous, of course I am always nervous when I fly. We were worried about Jon and Michelle and whether they would have flooding at their house, but thank goodness everything turned out just fine.

We had such a great time it was hard to believe how fast it went by. Marti was especially upset that she had to leave Brinley, she just loves that girl. We miss having their family nearby and we are so grateful to them for making us feel so welcome.